December 8, 1975: San Francisco Bay Area entrepreneur Paul Terrell opens The Byte Shop, one of the world’s first computer stores — and the first to sell an Apple computer.
Years before Apple would open its own retail outlets, the Byte Shop stocks the first 50 Apple-1 computers built by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
November 23, 2010: An early Apple-1 computer, complete with its original packaging and a letter signed by Steve Jobs, sells for $210,000.
At the time, it ranks as the most expensive personal computer ever sold at auction. However, it’s a rare find. The working Apple-1 is thought to be one of only around 50 thought to still exist.
The original Apple-1 is rare, but an eBay auction going on now is for a nearly unique version with a wood case made by the Byte Shop. There are reportedly only 6 of these still in existence. That’s why the seller is asking a cool $1,750,000.
August 25, 2016: An ultra-rare Apple-1 computer raises $815,000 in a charity auction, one of the highest prices ever paid for one of the machines. Bidding actually reaches $1.2 million in the auction’s final minutes. However, that bid gets pulled seconds before a winner is announced.
The reason for the super-high price? This “Celebration” Apple-1 boasts a feature that did not appear on any production models of the computer.
Only 70 Apple 1 computers are known to exist. But collectors gathered twelve of them over the weekend for the annual Vintage Computer Festival West at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif.
This is no small feat considering the fragility and rarity of the humble machine that launched a computing revolution — and one of the world’s most influential companies.
“They are the computers that started Apple,” Dag Spicer, senior curator for the museum, told Cult of Mac. “People are completely blown away.”
You would have to ride in a time machine back to 1976 and that garage on Crist Drive in Los Altos, Calif., to find 10 Apple 1 computers in the same space.
But this weekend, 10 or more will be displayed at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., for the annual Vintage Computer Festival West.
About half the machines will be working.
Bidding was apparently hot and heavy for a computer manual for the Apple-1, this company’s very first computer. In a multi-day online auction for this rare bit of tech history, the top bid was under $10,000 only a few days ago but in the end the document sold for $12,956.
Unless you’re Scrooge McDuck, an international arms dealer or some other wealthy individual, chances are that you won’t be able to afford an Apple-1 at auction anytime soon.
But don’t give up hope of owning a piece of Apple’s first computer. An extremely rare original Apple-1 manual (remember when computers came with those?) has just come up for sale. And it’s only expected to cost $10,000!
A rare Apple-1 computer built by Steve Wozniak in 1976 has sold for $471,000 in a Christie’s auction.
According to the Apple-1 Registry of known Apple-1 computers, this is number 10 of just 68 thought to be still in existence. Only 200 Apple-1 computers were ever made.
Want to own one of the very first computers Apple ever launched? You very well could, thanks to a Christie’s auction selling an Apple-1 personal computer, circa 1976.
This model comes complete with original instruction manuals, supporting hardware, and “additional ephemera.” However, with an asking price of up to $630,000, you may have to get a second mortgage or sell a vital organ to get hold of it!
